Page 51 of Back to You

At the shake of her head, he went on. "Harry and Bev came to us just as everything was becoming public. Let us know they were having you move in with them. They knew there’d be gossip but their family had already decided."

Vivian stood there in shock. She never even heard a whisper of this.

But Cameron wasn’t done.

"They had some concerns obviously. The first one was your own mother, but they figured she could only backpedal so much once you were under their roof. The town would have to deal with her raising a fuss though, so they felt like they should let us know just so we could be prepared. Harry made it clear he expected us to be standing behind them and they’d take the reins once you moved in.”

“So.” Vivian stepped away, her gaze searching the room for something, anything to latch on to while she rocked through these revelations. “Why am I just now hearing about this?”

“We agreed. If she did something stupid like contacting the state—let’s just say our community has had centuries of maneuvering around outside bureaucracy.”

That did not surprise her.

“The Rosses had everything lined up and were going to go speak with your mother then. We were going to send McPhee over with them in an attempt to make things go as smoothly as possible. But when they got there, they were shocked to find you were gone."

Vivian remembered the day vividly. Her mother had packed her a small suitcase, not even everything she would've packed herself for a trip, and had it in the car when she got home from school. She took Vivian’s phone and told her she had five minutes to grab anything important she may have forgotten. Next thing she knew, Vivian was in a sponsored home outside Boston.

From there to Charlie and it was years later before she even considered reaching out to Lyra.

Because she was an emancipated minor, she was able to finish her time in the home and then move in with the closest thing she ever had to family to complete learning everything he could teach her in the garage.

Even super pregnant, she’d been working on cars.

He laughed that it brought in more women customers.

When Tyler came along, it was just the three of them.

And as crazy as it sounds, it was some of the best years of her life.

Charlie loved her and Tyler as if they were his own and in their reality they really were.

She was grieving when she came back to Starlight Harbor. It just wasn’t for her mother.

"When your mother came back from wherever she took you, we couldn't pressure or cajole the location out of her. I think Bev nearly threatened to burn down her house and only didn't because she couldn't go to prison since they were in the middle of finals."

Vivian laughed. She could see Bev making the decision consciously not to burn down her mother's house.

“And if any of the kids knew where you were, they weren't sharing. Then your mother died." He said it so casually she knew he was trying not to make a thing of it.

And the saddest part was, it really wasn't.

Their relationship was something Vivian feared she’d replicate with her own child.

Her mother was never actually physically abusive and as a kid she thought that mattered. But emotionally? Absolutely. And maybe fiscally or security-wise? Vivian didn't know what the word was for withholding things like a full meal or new clothes for school.

She pulled herself back out of her memories as he continued.

“And I guess none of us were really surprised to find she hadn't left you the house." He shook his head as if he couldn't believe it, a flush rising up on his neck. "Okay, I'll admit it. I couldn't believe it. I figured at the end of her life she’d do something to make up for the type of mother she'd been to you. But when the town found out she had donated it to a nonprofit we couldn't work around…"

Vivian remembered hearing about it as well. She hadn't expected her mother to give her the house, but she'd always wondered why she hadn't just sold it. And now she began to realize it was because her mother put more faith in the town to be a good parent when she herself wouldn't.

And she wouldn’t risk Vivian even getting that one thing.

“The others thought you would come back as soon as she was gone." He shrugged "I didn't think you’d come back at all. I figured you'd had enough betrayal in your life."

He turned to face her fully and took a step in her direction.

“So when I tell you the town will have your back, I'm making you a personal promise. Not from the town. Not from the lairds. I'm making that promise from me. Because I figure that's the least I owe you."

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